


Angel Doll

by aplacewherethereisnodarkness (AAfan)



Category: Person of Interest (TV)
Genre: Christmas Eve, F/F, Fluff, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-02
Updated: 2021-01-02
Packaged: 2021-03-12 14:28:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,648
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28511919
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AAfan/pseuds/aplacewherethereisnodarkness
Summary: Christmas Eve, a few years after the POI finale and Samaritan’s defeat.
Relationships: Root | Samantha Groves/Sameen Shaw
Kudos: 34





	Angel Doll

On Christmas Eve, Shaw takes Bear for a quick walk to the steakhouse just a few blocks away and returns to find a large box just inside her building entrance, nearly taking up the entire area to the inner buzzer door. She notices her apartment number on the box, and the box is marked “Fragile. This Side Up.” She checks the shipping papers and it definitely looks like something The Machine had arranged to have sent to her. The Machine has taken to sending Sameen a Christmas present for each of the last few years. As Sameen folds the papers and shoves them in her pocket, she looks up at the security camera and rolls her eyes. “What the hell is an ‘Angel Doll’ anyway?” she says under her breath. It’s obviously too big to be one of those Christmas tree toppers.

Sameen hadn’t liked any of The Machine’s Christmas presents so far. Even if she’s all-seeing, there’s absolutely nothing in the world The Machine could gift to Sameen that she would want and not already have. That’s not to say Sameen has everything, but rather, Sameen is not in want of anything at all, at least nothing known to currently exist. Any weapons upgrades were already provided as part of the job, and Sameen didn’t need The Machine to keep her well-fed. Sameen didn’t have much interest in maintaining a car either. It’s easier for her to just keep stealing cars and ditch them for a new ride when The Machine tells her it’s time.

Sameen hands her takeout bag to Bear who grips it between his teeth while Shaw struggles a bit with the large box that is heavy and awkward to carry. When Sameen gets it into her apartment, she leaves it just inside her door before taking Bear’s leash off. She takes the bag from Bear and unpacks the food before filling Bear’s bowl. Normally Bear is a very enthusiastic eater and comes immediately when his favorite kibble is being poured, but Sameen finds Bear sniffing around the large box and pawing at it. 

“Bear, here,” Sameen calls, showing him the food, even offering him a piece of steak, careful to cut the fat off first. Lucky she ordered two. 

When Shaw walks over to try feeding it to Bear, he huffs at her to open the box. 

“Bear, I’ll open it tomorrow. It’s time to eat now.”

Bear trots off to Sameen’s bedroom closet and comes out with one of Root’s bunny slippers in his mouth and he puts it down on the floor, next to the box. Then he goes back and brings the other one. 

“Oh, buddy, I know you love her and miss her. I do too. But…,” Sameen presently remembers the shipping papers and sets them on the box to read more carefully. “Oh, god, this better not be The Machine sending me one of those surprisingly realistic sex dolls that are being made nowadays.” 

Then she hears footsteps on the other side of her door and reaches instinctively for her firearm when the person on the other side starts picking the lock. 

“I missed you too, Sweetie,” the sound of a very familiar voice coming through as soon as the door was open. Even having Shaw’s gun pointed at her head before she set one foot over the threshold wasn’t enough to wipe the smile off the woman’s face. 

“Root? What the hell?!” Shaw says, confused, and happy yet angry at the same time. “And why are you wearing THAT?!” she motions toward Root’s outfit as she lowers her firearm. 

“Oh, I’m just playing an angel in someone’s sexy Christmas fantasy,” Root jokes as she enters the apartment. “Maybe yours, Sameen,” she adds, with an attempted wink before taking off her coat teasingly, careful not to lose her halo. 

“Root, where have you been? You let me think you were dead all these years for god’s sake!”

“Bear!” Root bends down to stroke and cuddle him. He then pushes her bunny slippers toward her feet. She gladly takes her boots off and puts on the slippers. 

“Root…,” Shaw narrows the space between them, grabbing one of Root’s wrists not being able to control her impatience. She wants answers. 

“Sameen, it’s a long story,” Root finally answers. She stands up straight and places her free hand around Shaw’s bicep. She knows Shaw deserves an explanation even though it’s complicated to explain all at once. “I wish I could have told you earlier, but, trust me when I say I came here as soon as I was able to escape.”

“Escape? From who? Where? We took down Samaritan years ago,” Shaw responds. 

“Samaritan may have been defeated, but it had already set certain things in motion,” Root explains. “It put me into a horrible place in D.C. where they erased my memories. It turns out that Rossum Corporation sponsors a whole network of these “Dollhouses” and is shrouded in secrecy. Even The Machine didn’t know I was taken there, at least not for a while. She must have recognized me while I was out on my first client engagement, but she couldn’t get me out right away.”

“She should have sent me to come for you,” Shaw says angrily. “Those bastards are gonna pay for what they did to you. And when I get my hands on every single one of your former clients….”

Root interrupts, “Sameen, even if The Machine could have asked you to break me out, I would have just been an empty shell. The Dollhouse didn’t keep a file of my original personality and memories that they could just re-imprint like they did for the other dolls who would be released at the end of their contracts. They had no intention of ever letting me back into the real world.”

Sameen senses a pull in her chest, blinks and looks away for a second. “Give me the location of the Dollhouses, and your client list. Taking them all down by New Year’s,” Shaw says in a low voice, followed by a small sniffle that she tried to pass off as a deep breath. “You know, fresh start to the year and all.” 

“No need,” Root says. Sameen’s hand was still gripping Root’s wrist, and Root puts her free hand over Sameen’s until she loosens her grip on Root’s wrist and lets her hand rest between Root’s. “The Machine kept me safe and she interfered with any unsavory situations that clients had planned for me until the D.C. house agreed to take on Ernest Thornhill as a client and my exclusive patron.”

“Why didn’t she just get you out of there right away and keep you hidden somewhere safe while helping you remember?” 

“The Machine needed someone on the inside so she could destroy it once and for all. According to plan, tomorrow morning’s news headlines will expose Rossum and the people behind it. Besides, I was never in imminent danger. The Dollhouses have some of the most advanced technology and they brought me back to full physical health, even fixed my ear,” Root explains. “Their entire organization, clients and sponsors may be evil, but the staff there take good care of their assets, even if it’s for the wrong reasons.”

“Hmm, looks like they fixed all your scars too,” Shaw says, looking behind Root’s ear, then pulling down the sleeve of Root’s ridiculous costume to expose the area of Root’s shoulder where Shaw had once patched her up. She ran her fingers over the area, tracing over where the faint scar should have been. “I wish The Machine would have brought you back to me right away. Maybe I could have helped you remember sooner.” 

“Sameen, you have important work to do which you wouldn’t have been able to do if you had to take care of me. The Machine found a way to make me immune to being wiped. That was the easy part. Getting me to remember everything took a lot longer. She could have found a way to imprint my personality and memories back into me in less time, but she didn’t want to do it that way. Something about ethics and mind control or manipulation, even if unintentional. She wanted me to remember organically.” Root then sees the shipping papers sitting on top of the box and smiles, “Of course she figured you’d be the first place I’d go, so she sent my stuff here using my engagement name. I guess she didn’t want to ruin the surprise for you.” 

“Oh, so you’re ‘Angel Doll’,” Shaw says, rolling her eyes. 

“Who else would it be? This is what I always wear when going on an engagement with Ernest Thornhill. I didn’t have anything else to change into before I got here,” Root says, as if it’s the most normal thing in the world to be walking around in an angel costume. 

“Kinky,” Shaw comments, not catching that tone in her voice that let on about her feelings regarding Root’s special relationship with The Machine. 

“Don’t be jealous, Sweetie” Root smirks. “The Machine had to make herself seem like one of the Dollhouse’s more typical rich clients, someone with hidden or extreme fetishes, so she played a hermit who is into computer nerds and has a thing for angel costumes.” 

“You’re lucky it’s Christmas Eve so people don’t know you’re some perky psycho walking around the streets of New York City. Instead you’re just blending in with the festivities, the Santas, elves and other ridiculous stuff people wear for the holidays,” Shaw scoffs. She can’t wait for Root to take it off. 

“You mean like ugly Christmas sweaters?” Root says with a grin, pulling one out of seemingly nowhere to give to Sameen. 

Shaw grumbles and puts on the sweater. Sameen admits that this Christmas, she finally got what she wanted.

**Author's Note:**

> References are made to Dollhouse, but in this context Root would not have been the character that Amy Acker actually played in that show.


End file.
